Switching means for aerial railways.



ASH. STRAMPE.

SWITCHING MEANS FOR AERIAL RAILWAYS. APPLICATION man MAR- 20. 1912..

Patented Oct. 9, 191?.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES a IN VE/VTOR k BY y I L N E510, g" v ATTORNEYS A. H. STRAMPE.

SWITCHING MEANS FOR AERIAL RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-20.1917.

Patented 00* 9,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Q ATTOH/JE rs "enia nnsra rns PATENT orricn.

ARTHUR H. STRTAIVI'IIPE,

or PAU' L -INA; Iowa."

SWITCHING MEANS FOR'AERIAL RAILWAYS'.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatzI, ARTHUR H. STRAMPE, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Paullina, in the county o f OBri en and State ofIowa,have made certain new and useful Improvements in Switching -Means forAerial Railways, of which the following is a specification. f

My present invention relates. generally to aerial railways, moreparticularly to the; switching means thereof, my object being. to

provide automatic switching means whereby a. car may proceed .upontherailway seeking its proper course and automatically. acting at thepro-per switches to -mai ntain.siich a course.

Generally my inventionhas to dowith overhead carriers suchlas forinstance mail carriers in rural districts, where the railway consists ofthe main track leading from the postalstation to and past switchesextending to the various houses along the route, thecarriers thus beingfor instance, electrically driven in which instance the track railswillalso be conductor rails. I It is to be understood, however, that. myinvention may be used for-the transportation of various means and invarious places, as for instance, manufacturing establishments, officebuildings and the like, and that the description herein as regards useof the invention in connection with mail dlstrlbutmg systems is byway ofexample only.

Generally my invention consists in, co-

operatingcar and track carried mechanismsautomatically actingito permitthe'car to seek or maintain the line of travel for-whichit is intendedand fitted. to carry out at the sending station, and a further object.ofmy invention is to provide automatic. switch means which will obviatethe necessity of cutting through the main or the switch rail,

so that the whole in connected and unbroken relation lend themselvesmuch more readily to effective and eflicient supports of minimum number.7

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating a portion ofthe aerial railway embodying my improvements.

F1 2 is a, )lflIl v1ew thereof;

c 1 I 0 Fig.8 is anenlarged side elevation of a portionthereof.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the parts shownin Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the lifting rails and theiroperating. parts.

F igs.-.6 and? are respectively a side View and a plan view of thecarrier or ca-rillus v trated in Figs-1, Qan-d 3, .Fig. 6.being partlybroken away in section. I

Fig. 8 s a vertical cross section through the car taken substantially'onthe line 88:

Fig. 11 is a detail perspective view of one of the actuating. plates ofthe form of the invention shown in Figs. and lOa.

. Referring .now to these figures,-.my.invention contemplates an aer1a1-railway of:

which the mainrails 10 may be erected-in continuous unbroken -IGl2ltl011with .the inner ends of switch rails 11 SGCHI'BCltthQI'GtO, so as. toenable. the erection and support of: both the main and switch rails inuse in an etfective, efiicient manner and-by the employment of minimumsupporting the former continuous and the latter rigidly connectedthereto mutually-contribute to the support ofone another and obviate-thepro- Vision of movable switch points and complicated supportingmechanism necessary inconnection therewith.

These as wellasoth'er advantages are: at

tained by the particular switching mechanism provided bymy invention,-which may be mounted either in-connection with the inainrails 10adjacentthe inner ends of the. switch rails 11, or in connection with the switchrails 11 adjacentiother switches or off-shoots thereof asindicated at12in Fig. 2.

In connecting my improved switching mechanism in place the rails, thatis either the main or switch rails, are. provided with' rigid dependinghangers 18 supporting parallel longitudinalbeams -14 at-their lowerends, between which beams 14 is an intera purmediate transverselatch-rod 15 for pose to be presentlydescribed;

A pair of upper parallel lifting railsltl are pivotally connected to theupperv ends Patented Oct; 951917;. Application filedMarch 20, 1917.Serial No. 156,123.

transverse section parts, it. being obvious that the main and switchrails,

' sitions as seen of upwardly projecting arms 17, all of which arepivotally connected at their lower ends to the beams 14-, said liftingrails peing thus shiftable to various elevations dependent upon theparticular positions of the supporting arms 17 Normally the arms 17 arein inclined positions which maintain the lifting rails 16 below thelevel of the main or switch rails in connection with which they aremounted, and are supported in spaced relation by transverse connectingbars 18, their distance of spacing being substantially less than that ofthe main or switch rails as clearly seen by reference to Figs. 2 and 4;.

Thus, the lifting rails 16 parallel the track rails in connection withwhich they are mounted, with their forward ends slightly curved as at 19in Fig. 4: with the curvature of the switch rails, the rear ends of thelifting rails 16 being connected by links 20 to a rocker arm 21,pivotally connected to the beams 1-1, and in turn con-' nected by aconnecting rod 22 to the lower end of a lever 23 intermediately pivotedat 2% to one of the track rails at a point substantially remote from theswitching point, the upper free end of lever 23 upstanding above thetrack rails for engagement by car carried mechanism for this purpose.

From the forward transverse connecting bar 18 of the lifting rails 16extends a downwardly and rearwardly inclined and pivoted latch bar 25having a notch in the lower edge thereof at an intermediate point forengagement with the transverse latch rod 15 before mentioned, when thesupporting arms 17 are moved to upright poin full lines in Fig. 3, toelevate the lifting rails 16, the forward ends of which in the elevatedpositions project above the level of the track rails in connection withwhich they are mounted.

Connecting the beams 14 is a transverse crank shaft 26 having a crank 27between said beams and having an end upright arm 28, the latter of whichis connected by a connecting rod 29 to the lower end of anintermediately pivoted lever 30 mounted at one side of the switch railsbeyond the switching point and for engagement by the same car carriedmechanism as previously actuated the switching lever 23, so as to rotatethe crank shaft 26 and elevate the lower rear end of the latch bar 25 byengagement of crank 27 therewith, thus disengaging the notch of thelatch bar from the transverse rod 15 so as to permit the lifting rails16 to drop by gravity to their lower inoperative positions, which lattermovement is limited by a transverse bar 31 connecting the forwardhangers 13 and disposed forwardly of the forward supporting arms 17 forengagement by the latter as seen by the dotted line position in Fig. 3.

As seen in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the actuating and releasing levers 23 and30 are at the sides of their respective tracks, but in accordance withthe form of the invention shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the correspondinglevers, one of which is seen at 23 may be intermediatelypivoted to crossbars 32 extending between the track rails, for a purpose which will bepresently described.

As seen particularly in Figs. 6, 7 and 3, the carrier or car embodyingmy improve-- ments and which is generally indicated at 33, may havedepending sides 3st through which the shafts 35 of the main wheels aremounted, the main wheels being shown at 36 spaced apart for engagementwith the track rails. In addition thereto, forward and rear pairs ofwheels 37 of smaller diau'ieters than the main Wheels 36 are journaledat points between the depending sides 34. of the car, these latterwheels being supplemental to the main wheels and spaced apart to conformto the spacing of the lifting rails 16 and for engagement with thelatter when they are elevated above the main rails. To this end thesupplemental wheels 37 may be of the double flanged type as clearly seenin doted lines in Fig. 7.

' The upper body portion of the car 33 may be closed by any suitablecover 38 utilized to protect mail or other material carried by the car,and which may be locked in use if it is so desired to further safe-guardthe contents.

In order to actuate the levers 23 and 30 the car 33 has a series ofhinged outstanding arms 39 at various elevations above the main wheelsand which in their inactive positions are moved parallel to the car sideas seen at the right in Fig. 7. When turned to active positions the armsextend outwardly at right angles to the car as seen at the left in Fig.7 the arm at the desired or proper height being moved to such positionwhen the car starts away from thesending station, to correspond with andactuate the levers 23 and 30 of the particular switch at which the caris to turn off of the main rails, it being understood that the levers 23and 30 at each switching point are of the same height and a heightdififerent from the heights of the levers of the various other switchingpoints.

It will be seen therefore that, it being immaterial which side of the.tracks the actuating levers are mounted on, a series of car carriedcontact arms may be mounted at each side of the car if desired so as toincrease the number of switches provided from the main rails, and enablethe car to seek and proceed upon the respective switch.

As seen in Fig. 2, there are two switches 11 and it is possible thateach switch may have branches 12 on to which it may be desired to againswitch the car previously .turned from the main rails 10. In this forengagement with other respective actuating levers, the latter of whichvary in height as before explained in connection with the levers 23 and30. It is obvious that by this means the same action may be broughtabout as previously described in the actuation of the levers 23 and 30,although it may be necessary to change the plates 40 of the cars toprovide plates having depending steps 41 of greater or less number asseen by comparison of FigsflO and 11.

- -Thus it is obvious that when the levers 23 or 23" are actuated thesupporting arms 17 are elevated to more nearly vertical positions andthe notch of the latch bar 25. engage with the latch rod 15 to maintainthe lifting rails 16 in the inclined elevated posi- 'tion which theyassume betweenthe track rails as seen in Fig. 6 so that in the furthermovement of the car, the supplemental wheels 37 of the latter will rightupwardly upon the lifting rails 16, resulting in the elevation of themain wheels 36 clear of the main rails whereby the forward portion ofthe car will be free for turning movement upon the forward curved end 19of at least one of the lifting rails so that as the for wardsupplemental wheels 37 pass beyond the forward ends of the lifting rails16, the forward main wheels 36 will lower upon the switch rails, thisoperation being equally true of the rear supplemental wheels 37 and therear main wheels 36, the car actuating the releasing lever 30 in likemanner so as .to release the latch bar 25 and permit the lifting rails16 to lower previous to the'pas sage thereby of the next car.

It is obvious from the foregoing that my invention provides a simple andcomparatively inexpensive means for the purposes and to the ends stated,the application of which to an aerial railway of the type described andutilized for various purposes, may be readily and conveniently made, andwill provide for a wholly automatic action and at the same time obviateunduly complicated supporting connections for the main as well as theswitch rails themselves.

I claim:

1. In a switching mechanism, the combination with main and switch rails,of hangers depending from the main rails, supporting beams connected tothe lower ends of said hangers and arranged parallel to the main rails,upwardly extending supporting arms pivotally connected at their lowerends to the said supporting beams, lifting rails pivotally connected tothe upper ends of said supporting arms and having portions parallel tothe main and switch rails, means to limit lowering movement of the said.lifting rails, means to hold the lifting rails in their upper operativeposition, car actuated means for elevating the lifting rails to theirupperpoperative position, and car actuated means adjacent the switchrails for releasing the said holdingmeans.

2. In a switching mechanism of the character described, the combinationof main and switch rails, a support connected to and depending below themain railsjupwardly.

inclined supporting arms pivoted in the said support, a pair of liftingrails 'oivotally connected to'the said supporting arms and movable topoints above and-below the main rails and having portions parallelingthe main and switch rails, means for holding the said liftingrails intheir upper operative position including a latch member connectedthereto and movable therewith,"car actuated means adjacent the mainrailsfor moving the said lifting rails to upper operative position, andcar actuated means adjacentthe switch rails having connections forreleasing the said latch member to permit the lifting rails to drop.

3. In a switching mechanism of the character described, the combinationof main and switch rails, a pair of lifting rails. between, and normallybelow, the main rails and having portions paralleling the -main andswitch rails, car actuated means adjacent the main rails for elevatingthe said lifting rails to their upper operative position above the mainrails, means to lock the said lifting rails in their upper operativeposition, and car actuated means adjacent the switch rails for releasingthe said locking means to permit rails and normally between and belowthe same, means for elevating the said lifting rails above the level ofthe main and switch rails, means for locking the lifting rails in theirupper position, and means for releasing the said lockmg means to permitthe lifting rails to drop.

5. In a switching mechanism, the combination of rigidly connected andextending main and switch rails, a pair of vertically shiftable liftingrails rigidly spaced apart and having portions paralleling the main andswitch rails, means for automatically elevating the said lifting railsto upper operative position above the level of the main and switchrails, means for automatically locking the said lifting rails in theupper operative position, and means for automatieally releasing the saidlocking means to permit the lifting rails to drop.

6. In a switching mechanism of the char acter described, the combinationof main and switch rails, vertically shiftable lifting rails havingportions paralleling the main and switch rails, and car carried meanscooperating with the said lifting rails in their upper operativeposition.

7 In a switching mechanism of the character described, the combinationof main and switch rails, vertically shiftable lifting rails havingportions paralleling the main and switch rails, and car carried meanscooperating with the said lifting rails in their upper operativeposition, said car carried means including wheels independent of themain track wheels thereof and for engagement with the said liftingrails.

8. In a switching mechanism, the combination with main and switch railsand a car having main wheels movable thereon, of vertically shiftablelifting rails having portions paralleling the main and switch rails, andmovable above and below the level thereof, and supplemental wheelscarried by the car for engagement with the said lifting rails when thelatter are in their upper position.

9. In a switching mechanism of the character described, the combinationwith main and switch rails and a car having wheels movable thereon, ofmeans disposed adjacent the intersection of the said main and switchrails and cooperating with the car to lift the wheels of the latter fromthe main rails to the switch rails.

10. In a switching mechanism of the character described, the combinationwith main and switch rails and a car having wheels movable thereon, ofmeans disposed adjacent the intersection of the said main and switchrails and cooperating with the car to lift the wheels of the latter fromthe main rails to the switch rails, said means acting to guide the carin its shifting movement.

11. In a switching mechanism of the character described, the combinationwith main and switch rails and a car having wheels movable thereon, ofmeans disposed adjacent the intersection of the said main and switchrails and cooperating with the car to lift the wheels of the latter fromthe main rails to the switch rails, and means to automatically shift thefirst-named means into and out of operative position.

12. In a switching mechanism of the character described, the combinationwith main and switch rails and a car having wheels movable thereon, ofmeans disposed adj acent the intersection of the said main and switchrails and cooperating with the car to lift the wheels of the latter fromthe main rails to the switch rails, and car actuated means locatedadjacent the main and switch rails to respectively shift the first-namedmeans into and out of operative position.

ARTHUR H. STRAMPE.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

